Our story… with horses
Belrieve Horses is owned and operated by the Edwards family, Philip, Sophia and their son Oliver.
Established in 2006 after we had became increasingly frustrated in sourcing and purchasing horses for our own competition needs. We acknowledge there are many great horses out there, but understanding their background and handling is incredibly important to us, not to mention their schooling and ride ability. Unable to find well schooled started competition horses, we decided to start breeding our own so that we had predictability in their performance and nature, and be able to give them the best start to their ridden careers.
Philip, comes from a long lineage of horseman, and grew up on his family property near Gloucester NSW. He started his riding career before he could walk, and learnt the ropes tailing cattle while mustering with his father and brothers. Prior to catching the eventing bug, he bred Australian Stockhorses for over 20 years, and competed in camp drafting.
Sophia, started competing in eventing as soon as she was old enough on her pony, eventually stealing her fathers mare Tintale Briar Rose, who took her through NSW junior eventing squads. Keeping up the trend, she went on to steal Philip’s mare Belrieve Ice Queen to compete at 3* eventing and 1.30 m showjumping. Sophia has a PhD in assisted reproduction in cattle, and continues to work in the industry. Transfering this knowledge to our horse breeding ventures we are able to use assisted reproduction to ensure we accerlate the breeding from only the best performed and proven mares.
Coached professionally from the beginning Sophia, has a very sound understanding of the importance of dressage training in all facets of the sport. We value our professional relationships and seek guidance and coaching from Rebel Morrow (Athens Olympian), Tarsha Hammond (Equine majician) and Mattea and Shane Davidson (veterinarian and World Cup Showjumpers), those extra eyes are super important to ensure the best in our breeding program and training of horses.
Located in South East Queensland, 1 hr drive from Brisbane Airport on 60 rolling acres in Tarampa QLD.
Purpose built facilities including stables, mare crush, 60 x 20 m sand arena, undulating gallop paddock and improved grass jumping surface, purpose built sheltered paddocks for competition horses and large paddocks for young horses and broodmares. Our young horses benefit from growing up on hills, creeks and dams and are allowed to grow the way they should, on pasture diets and supplementation when required during the winter months. Hills allow for strength building and fitness work with our competition team.
We are conveniently located within 45 min drive of some of the best veterinary services available in Australia including West Vets and UQ Equine Specialist centre, ensuring we have an excellent understanding of the health and fitness of our horses. All artificial breeding including embryo transfer is conducted on site.
Breeding philosophy
We place a strong emphasis on the mares ability and her temperament in our breeding programme. We acknowledge that the majority of horses we sell are going to amateur and junior riders that want to be competitive in their ventures. We want our clients to have the confidence that they have been matched with a well mannered and trained horse. Therefore, we focus on ensuring the best mares are used for breeding and the foals have the right up-bringing to suits these markets.
We pride ourselves on integrity, being honest about our horses suitability and open all veterinary records to prospective buyers. Because we have ridden and competed our mares and their progeny ourselves, we are confident we can match our horses with their new riders.
We utilise Embryo Transfer and frozen imported semen as well as domestic Australian owned stallions selectively matched to each mare. So even if they are in our competition team, we are able to continually breed from our elite mares.
We break and train all our young horses
All our horses that we breed and ride are broken in and started by Phil. He has a real knack with the young horse and they build trust in him quickly. Soph usually takes them on to add some polish or we hand them to our professional network to bring out the very best in them.
We believe that a young horse, no matter what discipline they are destined for, needs to be exposed to all types of experiences. This helps gain their trust in the rider and surroundings, and build confidence for when they are asked for greater achievements. Young horses are exposed to mustering, opening and shutting gates, trail riding, leading the kids pony, you name it…
Developing young horses through this process, we get to understand our horses from a young age, identifying their attributes and helping match them with their new riders.